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Here is Chapter 3 of GOD OF THE VEIL — written to match the tone:deep mystery, atmospheric, subtle horror, slow-burn progression, LoM-style tension, unique rules of Avatars and the Veil.
CHAPTER 3 — THE BOY WHO SHOULDN'T EXIST
Prince woke with a shudder.
For a moment he couldn't tell if he had merely opened his eyes…or if some invisible hand had peeled a layer of reality away.
The room around him was dim, lit by a single lantern flame trembling behind blue-tinted glass. Shadows clung to every corner like something alive—watching, waiting.
Prince sat up.His breath caught in his chest.
A boy—A boy identical to him—lay sleeping on the bed across the room.
Same height. Same face. Same body structure.
But the hair…
The other boy's hair was neater, swept back, styled in a flowy manner too clean to be accidental. A version of Prince who lived a different life. A version who belonged in this world.
Nasir.
Prince didn't know how he knew the name.But the knowledge settled into him like a memory that didn't belong to him.
He whispered, "So… this is reality now?"
No answer came.Only the faint sound of distant bells ringing through the alleyways outside.
A Wrong Kind of Stillness
Prince stood, feet touching cold stone. The room was not his. The city outside was not his.
The architecture was a blend of old-world mysticism and modern function. Narrow corridors, crooked windows, lanterns burning with blue fire. Air that tasted of fog and metal.
A world caught between secrets.
A world with layers he could not yet see.
Prince walked toward the sleeping Nasir—the other him.
A thin shimmer surrounded the boy, like heat rising from sand. A veil of distortion… faint, nearly invisible.
A boundary.
A warning.
Prince reached out a hand—slowly, carefully—and the air rippled.
A whisper brushed his ear.
"Do not disturb what must disappear."
Prince jerked back.
His heart pounded.But the room remained still.Nasir slept on, peaceful, unaware.
"It wasn't hallucination," Prince muttered. "Someone—or something—spoke."
The Awakening of the Veil
He turned to the small cracked mirror on the table.
A flicker of grey mist pulsed behind his reflection.Tiny, swirling grains of light—like embers drifting in slow motion.
Not in the room.In the mirror.
Prince leaned in.
The mist swirled.Expanded.Filled the reflection like a rising tide.
And then—
A throne.A vast hall.Endless space veiled by luminous fog.
For one heartbeat, Prince saw everything.
A domain waiting for its owner.A power waiting for its god.
Then it was gone.
Prince staggered back, chest heaving.
"Was that… the Veil?"
A faint pulse answered.From within his mind.
Nasir Awakens
A soft rustle.
Nasir—his double—slowly opened his eyes.
Prince froze.
Two identical gazes met.
One belonged to a boy named Prince.The other belonged to a boy named Nasir—the original inhabitant of this world.
For a full second they stared.
Nasir's expression shifted from confusion…to fear…to a strange calm acceptance, almost as if some part of him already knew this moment would come.
He whispered, voice trembling:
"You're… me…"
Prince swallowed. "No. I'm not."
Nasir sat up, clutching his blanket, breathing fast.
"Are you a dream? A phantom? A reflection? Why are you—"
His voice cut off.
His pupils dilated.His body stiffened.
He stared past Prince.
At something Prince could not see.
His whisper came out hollow.
"Ah… so that's how it ends…"
A cold wind swept the room.
The lantern flame bent sideways, almost horizontal.
Prince turned sharply.
Nothing there.
When he looked back—
Nasir had collapsed forward.
Silent.Still.Unbreathing.
The First Rule of the Veil
A sound echoed inside Prince's head.
Not a voice.A law.
A cosmic decree.
"When two identical fates meet,only one may remain."
The Veil pulsed again—this time far clearer.
And knowledge poured into Prince like a flood.
Nasir had not died.He had been reclaimed.Absorbed into the Veil.Merged into Prince's destiny.
Prince felt it—a rush of memories, emotions, fragments of knowledge syncing into him.
Not all at once.Not fully integrated.
But present.
Waiting.
He whispered, shaken:
"…I consumed him."
The room answered with silence.
Identity Rewritten
Pain lanced through Prince's mind.
His vision doubled, then tripled.
Two names swirled inside him:
Prince.Nasir.
Two lives trying to occupy one soul.
The Veil wrapped around his consciousness like a soft, cold hand.
And whispered:
"Choose.You may walk this world only as one."
Prince clenched his fists.
After a long moment, he spoke.
"…From now on, I will be Nasir."
The Veil accepted his choice.
A warm pulse traveled through his veins.
The room seemed to breathe with him.
Somewhere far above, across layers of unseen reality…
A throne in the fog brightened—acknowledging its rightful owner.
The Mystery Deepens
Prince—now Nasir—looked at his reflection again.
His face was the same.His expression was calm.But something behind his eyes…something ancient, cold, and bound to fate…had awakened.
A second whisper reached him.
"One identity.Many faces.Many fates."
He exhaled.
"Avatars…"
The Veil responded with quiet approval.
Nasir lifted his hand.
A faint ripple spread from his palm—distorting the air, warping reality by a fraction.
A small demonstration of something greater.
A promise of what he would become.
A god.
End of Chapter 3